This is my version of what I would've liked to have seen for Arkham Three; I hope you guys enjoy.

ASHES OF ARKHAM: PROLOGUE

The group of ninjas ran through the dilapidated ruins of Wonder City. They were the elite of their order, and had been sent on a recovery mission by their master. The leader stopped (and the others followed suit) when they came upon what used to be the entrance of the main chamber. However, the entrance had long since been covered by several feet of rock and rubble. The group of four did not have the means to remove the rubble, but that was the least of their problems now.

Someone had jumped from one of the ruin old buildings, landing on the ground expertly. He was clad in red and white, a hood covering the majority of his masked face. He held a wicked looking red sword in his hand, but most puzzlingly, he dropped it into the ground, the sharp tip stabbing into the ground and leaving the sword standing upright.

"Batman does not kill..... Neither shall I. When you wake up from your unconsciousness, I want you to send a message to Ra's Al Ghul. Tell him Azrael is coming for him, and on this hallowed night I shall ascend, as was foretold."

The ninjas came at him fast, swords drawn. However, his speed and strength was unprecedented, and he quickly overcame the ninjas.

Azrael took one last look at the unconscious bodies, before walking with steady determination into the bowels of Wonder City.

***

Panessa Studios was exceedingly creepy.

Tim Drake had been practically living in the abandoned studio for the last two weeks; he hadn't had any sort of "paranormal" experience, but then again he never did any exploring other than sitting at the large computer bank. He'd been essentially stationed here by Bruce when he had caught wind of some of the only organized criminal activity that had appeared in the last year; Tim was keeping track of any leads Bruce had found, so in other words, Tim was doing nothing. All they had was that it was only Black Mask's men; a few armed robberies and one little get together that could barely be considered a riot in Ryker Heights.

Normally Gotham was a hotbed of criminal activity. Not even the so called supervillians had so much as left a trace, other than the few robberies under Sionis' men. It was like all of the criminals were just ghosts. Like they quit and cleared out of Gotham.

Tim yawned at an obscene volume, and rested his head on his hands, eyes fluttering slightly as he came very close to drifting off to sleep.

His almost-nap was interrupted when an alarm went off on the computer; armed robbery, one victim shot but not killed. They were confirmed to be Black Mask's men.

Tim activated his communicator, and sent the data to Batman.

"Bruce, these are confirmed to be Black Mask's goons. I'd highly recommend you hack into any types of radios or communications systems they have on them. This could be our biggest break yet."

"Thanks, Tim. I'll keep you updated on what happens."

Tim sighed. Maybe he could finally get in on some of the crime fighting action tonight.